I, Mekon

Moving...

2009-12-28T12:00:00.000Z

I'm moving to WordPress

2009-11-20T06:54:00.002Z

Here's the partly populated board - the propeller chip and the EEPROM are installed. You can't see the blue LED flashing...

Windows 7 and Karmic Koala

2009-11-18T13:07:00.003Z

I upgraded my Toshiba laptop to 4GBytes of memory and a 500MByte drive. Then I installed Windows 7 - it detected the wireless network but not the graphics. I couldn't find a Windows 7 driver for 64 but the Vista one worked fine.

Ubuntu Karmic Koala running from the live CD worked fine but now it's installed it first had issues creating a FAT32 partition (kept failing) then the wireless doesn't work (worked on live CD).

Hmm...

Update: after rebooting Ubuntu, the wireless network worked fine. Also let me create a FAT32 drive, label it, format it and leave a file for Windows 7 to see. Windows 7 didn't offer me the option of using FAT32 to format...

Making a synth...

2009-11-16T19:50:00.001Z

And so it begins...

Delphi 2010

2009-09-22T20:53:00.002Z

The last version of Delphi I bought was Delphi Professional 2006. I didn't rate at all. Buggy, slow, broken help... sigh... I felt the days of Delphi were over. That and Kylix (stagnating at V3.0) and the change of hands of "CodeGear".

Delphi 2007, 2009... finally 2010

After an initial false start (see earlier posts), I managed to get Delphi 2010 Architect trial to install. I wasn't expecting much but...

Generics
RTTI access methods
Attributes

Interesting... ah, but...

Broken help (no news there, then)
Still have to declare variables outside a function/procedure
Still circular uses dependency restriction

I did a comparison with a C# app. While I find the C# language easier to work with, Delphi runtime is a lot faster. A simple graphical app seemed sluggish in .NET but rapid in Delphi.

The biggest area of Delphi is not so much the IDE, the documentation or the language, but the VCL. Standard tree control in WinForms doesn't support multiple selection - in VCL it's an option.

The price of upgrading to Delphi 2010 Professional is about £340 - that's not cheap compared to previous versions. They're offering BOGO at the moment, so I took the plunge and bought Delphi 2010 Pro upgrade and BOGO'd a copy of C++ Builder 2010 Pro as well.

After my two year break from Delphi going back is a bit traumatic. C# has spoilt me with the depth of the language. Delphi feels... antiquated.

C++ Builder never impressed me much. Everything I threw at it had problems. Seems this time it has improved, so maybe there's hope yet!

CodeGear forums fail

2009-09-12T17:47:00.002Z

Trying to post a question to the Delphi forums is no fun:

(not sure where to post this...)

How do I pass a Delphi string to a function expecting WCHAR* in a Visual C++ DLL?

I tried declaring the parameter as filename: PChar (and PWideChar) but I don't see the string being passed.

I get the following mess on the screen:

HTTP Status 500 -

type Exception report

message

description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

com.jivesoftware.base.UserNotFoundException
 com.codegear.jive.cdnauth.CDNUser.loadFromMembers(CDNUser.java:83)
 com.codegear.jive.cdnauth.CDNUser.(CDNUser.java:28)
 com.codegear.jive.cdnauth.CDNUserManager.lookupUser(CDNUserManager.java:34)
 com.jivesoftware.base.UserManagerAdapter.getUser(UserManagerAdapter.java:82)
 com.jivesoftware.base.UserManagerProxy.getUser(UserManagerProxy.java:60)
 com.jivesoftware.base.action.interceptor.AuthInterceptor.processAwareInterfaces(AuthInterceptor.java:61)
 com.jivesoftware.base.action.interceptor.AuthInterceptor.intercept(AuthInterceptor.java:43)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:190)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:31)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:190)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:31)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:190)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:31)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:190)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.ExceptionMappingInterceptor.intercept(ExceptionMappingInterceptor.java:186)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:190)
 com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionProxy.execute(DefaultActionProxy.java:116)
 com.opensymphony.webwork.dispatcher.DispatcherUtils.serviceAction(DispatcherUtils.java:225)
 com.opensymphony.webwork.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher.doFilter(FilterDispatcher.java:202)
 com.jivesoftware.base.action.util.JiveFilterDispatcher.doFilter(JiveFilterDispatcher.java:68)
 com.jivesoftware.util.SetResponseCharacterEncodingFilter.doFilter(SetResponseCharacterEncodingFilter.java:61)
 com.opensymphony.module.sitemesh.filter.PageFilter.parsePage(PageFilter.java:118)
 com.opensymphony.module.sitemesh.filter.PageFilter.doFilter(PageFilter.java:52)
 com.jivesoftware.base.theme.ThemeFilter.doFilter(ThemeFilter.java:50)
 com.jivesoftware.base.util.webwork.JiveActionContextCleanUp.doFilter(JiveActionContextCleanUp.java:38)
 com.jivesoftware.base.util.JiveCompressionFilter.doFilter(JiveCompressionFilter.java:123)
 com.jivesoftware.util.SetRequestCharacterEncodingFilter.doFilter(SetRequestCharacterEncodingFilter.java:72)
 com.jivesoftware.base.util.MaintenanceFilter.doFilter(MaintenanceFilter.java:83)
 com.jivesoftware.forum.upgrade.UpgradeFilter.doFilter(UpgradeFilter.java:49)
 com.jivesoftware.base.plugin.PluginFilter.doFilter(PluginFilter.java:56)
 com.jivesoftware.base.util.ApplicationInitializedFilter.doFilter(ApplicationInitializedFilter.java:81)

Delphi 2010 is out!

2009-09-11T07:26:00.002Z

So Codegear have released Delphi 2010...

Can't even download the architect trial. My user page shows an error but not what the actually error is!

Anyway... once I got past this error (I've no idea what I did to fix it), I finally got the license key to install Delphi 2010 Architect Trial.

Delphi hasn't changed much. Still need to declare variables outside of code (not block scoped) and still need declaration and implementation sections. C# looks much nicer in this respect.

C++ Builder seems to have improved so it might actually be usable...

More Spore

2009-01-24T11:13:00.002Z

I added the cute and creepy pack as my brother and wife bought it as a Christmas present. So far made use of the mouths and eyes. Can't say I like the arms and legs much - too boney for me.

Then I descover I can make my creatures pickup sticks and stones!

How did I miss that one? I can get my creatures to throw them... at others, even my own creatures. It usually wacks them and results in loads of stars... very amusing!

I just keep finding little tidbits in Spore. Now there are more packs to come, so my addiction will be satisfied... oh dear...

Upgrading my MacBook hard disk

2009-01-13T07:28:00.002Z

I took out the old disk, removed the shield with the TORX screws (unusual screws, luckily I had a friend with some of these), abnd inserted the new bigger drive. On boot up, my MacBook displays a flashing folder icon with a question mark.

?

So, I inserted the Leopard DVD and it boots. I go through the wizard for installation and get to the point where I need to select where to install. According to the wizard, there's nowhere to install it.

?

So, I try the disk utility. No new disk appears... then there it is. I erase it, try the install again. This time the disk appears in the where to install it display. How bizarre! Why not offer the option of erasing at this point rather than dumping the unsuspecting user with a blank screen, making him think he may have a dud drive?

So, get MacOS installed. I get stuck in the network page where it keeps asking me the wireless lan details. There seems no way to get out of this page. Eventually it connects to my hidden network (I'm guessing I got the password wrong, shame # isn't on my UK keyboard). Finally, it boots, and asks if I want to restore from back, including Time Capsule. I select that option, plug in the drive with Time Capsule on it, and restore my backup.

After restoration, it's MacOS 10.5.4, not 10.5.6. Curious. So backup doesn't include system files. Also, Xcode is missing. So backup excludes certain items. None of this is mentioned on the minimal setup for Time Capsule.

It was a smooth operation, however, with flaws.

Why can't I...

2009-01-01T19:52:00.001Z

Remotely login to my video recorder and instruct it to record something in the future?
Play videos from a streaming terabyte drive?
Watch pay-to-view channels on a freeview telly or box?

iPod Touch

2009-01-01T18:24:00.003Z

So...

Now that I've got an iPod Touch, what do I think of it?

Well... I didn't go for the iPhone - it's missing a few essential features, as far as I can tell, no bluetooth. Weak camera, no video. If it ever adds those, then I'll consider it.

What's great about the iPod Touch is the WiFi. I have an aging Palm LifeDrive - a bulky 5GByte slow PDA. The iPod Touch beats it hands down! The WiFi on the iPod supports WPA. The LifeDrive doesn't...

What doesn't work so well for me is the multitouch. I HATE IT! I don't like using Safari then trying to zoom in with finger and thumb - somehow it just doesn't work - so I end up using two hands to get zoom working. YUK!!!

My eBooks are on the iPod Touch! Woohoo! I can retire my LifeDrive - plus Ilium have a version of their wallet on iPod Touch. More reasons to dump my LifeDrive.

What does the iPod Touch NOT have:

No way to expand memory - why???
No way to replace battery easily (but then neither does my LifeDrive).
Keyboard pretty fiddly to use - to easy to mistype.

More as I trip over them...

Oh Leopard, where are thy spots?

2008-12-24T09:20:00.002Z

I upgraded my MacBook to Leopard.

Oh dear.

It feels slower and wireless is broken. Gee. Thanks Apple!

It seems the issue with wireless is well known - still no solution from Apple as yet. So, when I switch it on, I have to use Assist to get my wireless up and running. Tedious.

UPDATE: Seems rebooting the router helped, along with clearing out the keys. Also mail was broken but deleting the configuration helped there too.

Tabatha, RIP

2008-11-22T09:47:00.002Z

On Friday 21st Nov, the vet put Tabatha, my cat, to sleep.

She'd not been well for some time. She'd lost weight, and was very thirsty all the time. Then she stopped eating and could barely stand. I was at work, 100 miles away, so I couldn't be there. My dad watched as she passed away.

I collected her from the Cat Protection League around 1999. She was at least five years old then, possibly older. She was small, affectionate and just liked being around people. My parents fell in love with her instantly. When I changed jobs, I left her with my parents - I couldn't see how it could work as I lived in a flat during the week and my house at weekends.

Goodbye Tabatha, I shall miss you.

Spore patch 3

2008-11-18T06:53:00.003Z

With the latest Spore patch, they've released new limbs for creatures:

Delphi 2009

2008-09-30T17:52:00.004Z

I downloaded a trial version of Delphi 2009 Architect to see if much has changed with Delphi. So far I've hit the following issues:

Cannot enter '\' in the installer. So, typing C:\dir resulted in dirC:. Most bizarre.
Circular uses clause still exists. Tsk, tsk. This is 2009, how come we're still living in the dark ages?
Still cannot have local variables per begin...end block.
Cannot export functions declared in C source files. The linker warning is undocumented, the symbol doesn't appear in the DLL.
C++ Builder doesn't distinguish name of project and name of a file in the project. More dark ages.
No way for Delphi to see C++ Builder class except via COM. How pedestrian. I can do this in Visual C++ with Managed C++.

After spending a year developing with C#, managed C++ and C++, going back to Delphi was... interesting.

Looks like the following has been fixed - it only took, what, four years?

Select a token, hit F1. Delphi 2005, 2006 couldn't find its own help. Delphi 2009 can.
.NET support for .NET 2.0. What about 3.0/3.5?

I think my original decision not to buy any further upgrades to Delphi/C++ Builder stands. It's still broken; it's not worth it.

Spore!

2008-09-11T06:50:00.009Z

I read about Spore a while ago. I've played Sim City several times and liked it, so spore was interesting. I tried the Creature Creator trial and liked it, so I bought the full version of the creator. That led to buying a prerelease version of spore and downloading an encrypted version early.Spore was released last Friday (with a few server hiccups), I've been playing it ever since. It's addictive. So far I've found the cell stage the most fun.

Herbivore...Carnivore...Omnivore...

Omnivore is the most fun of the three types - you get to suck vegetables or other creatures. The expressions on them is very funny - the eyes bug out and all the frills etc. stretch out as if horrified. The sound effect is of you sucking noisily on a straw!

Once you evolve your creature starts to develop further - here's the omnivore at the creature stage:

Even in the cell stage you get an editor - here you can rearrange parts, pull off parts to replace them or add new bits and bobs to make your creature more adaptive to its environment. Here's the omnivore in its latest phase (in tribal):

As you play the game, more stages open up and you can jump in at those points (cell, creature, tribal, civilisation and space), or you can let your character evolve through each stage on the way.

After the cell stage, creature stage didn't strike me as that wonderful for a while - until I saw my own creatures I'd created in the creature editor appear as giant versions in game with 1000 points and terrorising the neighbourhood!

Waiting for Linux...

2008-08-28T17:59:00.001Z

I can't remember the last time I tried Linux. It always offered so much promise, but then failed to deliver. So, I decided to try building a Linux box again. Since I've upgraded to a newer PC, I put my Athlon 2200+ to one side for Linux. I installed the latest Ubuntu...

Oh dear no network. I tried a seperate card and that worked; then I remembered, I'd disabled the on board network of my A7N8X mobo. Hmm, put that down to user error. However I did go a-hunting on the net and found a few comments about the network not working on A7N8X mobo's.
I couldn't get the graphics card to recognise my iiyama LCD display. Even without the KVM switch, it refused to let me choose any resolution other than 640x480. After a bit of tweaking, I finally got it to run in 1280x1024 mode.

Ah yes, Linux. I remember it well. It just... doesn't... quite... work. That's why trying an Apple Mac was such a breathe of fresh air. It actually works! Wow!

Epoch

2008-08-20T05:54:00.003Z

It's blue. It's black. It's fast!

It's running Windows XP...

Race Driver: GRID

2008-08-15T10:49:00.003Z

Looks like I got my name in the Develop magazine August 2008, page 57.

New PC!

2008-08-13T13:14:00.006Z

I ordered the parts for my new PC on Moday, they turned up Tuesday...

I started putting it all together, and found a few minor issues. I'd chosen to base my build on what Scan use for their 3XS range, figuring if that's what works for them would probably work for me. The case is a gamers box with transparent sides and large, quiet fans. The first minor issue: I didn't expect to find the power supply had to be at the bottom, and upside down. The second was the size of the CPU fan. I could see problems trying to fit the thing. I watched a flash movie on the Zalman site and it made sense but I felt trying to screw down a sprung loaded bar might not be that simple. In the end, it went in, with a few mutterings.

I powered it all up and was rewarded with the BIOS screen. Ran memtest for a couple of hours and it was fine. Temperature seemed much better than I've seen with my Athlon 2200+ where it regularly hit 70C. This one was running at 40C (CPU) and 35C (motherboard). The big fans are a bit noisy, but they are quieter than my aging Athlon (aging? It's not that old!).

Since I've switched on ASUS Q-Fan, the CPU fan is running much quieter - seems every other fan is low speed, big and quiet...

So what I've got is an Intel Duo with four cores, 4GBytes of RAM (not all of which is visible), 8800 GT graphics, 750GByte SATA drive... all in a colourful box with blue lights and a green glowing CPU fan. Be interesting to see it do some raytracing once I've got everything set up - with four cores that ought to be a sight to see.

Cars

2008-08-11T18:22:00.004Z

I took my Honda Jazz in for its first service a while ago. There I chatted with one of the salesman who told me about the new redesign of the Jazz appearing later this year. He seemed to think I might be interested in upgrading to the latest model... unlikely, if the car is as reliable as my last Vauxhall Astra, I plan on keeping it for at least 15 years!

Oh, and he said that generally older people (people over 50) buy Jazz's. Oh dear! Did my Zimmer frame give the game away?

Vista not for me

2008-08-11T18:16:00.002Z

My laptop has Vista, and once I got past the crashing issues - fixed with a BIOS upgrade, everything has been fine. But Vista is nothing to write home about. The gadget bar is useful but everything else is... well, what's the point?

If I repeatedly do something that require's priv's, it repeatedly asks me again and again to accept it. Gee, Microsoft, where did you dig up your usability guide from? Using my Mac was a much more elegant affair and I'm not running the latest and greatest yet!

Finally, discovering my scanner is compatible with Vista is frankly, not amusing.

More Vista woes!

2008-03-22T18:37:00.002Z

System Hang

Is this Vista or the Toshiba...?

I left my laptop alone for a while, when I returned the screen was blank, the system wouldn't respond to keypresses. Caps lock/Num lock didn't toggle their respective lights on/off, and dabbing the power button didn't put the system to sleep. So, hold down power button and switch off.

So, try for a replacement set of AMD/ATI drivers, see if that helps. Ho hum.

UAC

The new system under Vista for elevating privs is a bit clumsy. It seems to be asking for every operation I might do that needs "elevation", and failing silently those that don't realise they need it! Also it seemed to ask me twice on one occaison!

Water underfoot

2008-03-19T23:04:00.004Z

There's a soft splashing, clanging sound as I walk between the buildings. I look down and see a layer of water under my feet. A metal grill is slightly below the surface, what I'm walking on. In the distance, I can see a hole in the grill. A man dressed in a dark suit with dark shades walks up to the edge, and looks around. He takes off his shades and dives in.

I reach the edge of the grill where he jumped in, and look down into the murky depths. I can see him swimming underwater, a short distance away. Suddenly he seems to be struggling, then he sinks deeper, until I can see him no more.

I dive in, and start swimming. I'm under a building heading towards a lit opening ahead. I don't look down, holding my breath and ignoring everything but the light. I reach a ladder that descends below me and start climbing it. I gasp for breath as I break the surface and carry on climbing the ladder a short distance. I pause a while getting my breath back. Looking up towards the light, I continue climbing until I reach the straps hanging down. I strap myself in, an wait until a sudden updraught lifts me high... I'm up in the sky hanging on a parachute looking down at the city far below, water all around.

Oh Vista, oh no!

2008-03-17T07:07:00.002Z

I bought a new laptop for a couple of reasons... one, they're quite cheap right now; two they're running Windows Vista. The laptop is a Toshiba Equium (Athlon 64 X2) with an ATI graphics card. It took several reboots before it was ready to use (I thought one feature Microsoft tried to get right on XP was the number of required reboots - didn't succeed with XP, and so it would seem, not Vista either).

Once everything was up an running I dumped Symantec's virus software and tried AVG from Grisoft - at some point the system BSOD. Oh dear! Several updates and a few crashes later... I seem to have a stable system. I hope. Disappointing! Really Microsoft, is this the BEST you can do? "Oh it's Toshiba's fault", they might say.

My Apple MacBook was far easier to set up - with less reboots and no crashing!

Explosion

2008-03-16T23:14:00.003Z

I got on the train around the 5th junction, and made my way up the floors to the 3rd level. There I met a few friends and we got to chatting, when we heard the loud explosion up ahead. The train came to a halt, and there was an announcement about the station ahead of us.

Later, I got on the train on the opposite side, and witnessed an identical explosion going the opposite way... except it was the same explosion, I was on both trains at the same time...

Persual

2008-03-16T08:20:00.003Z

We were riding home when he told me about his latest theft. He'd managed to make a clean getaway, and wanted to look at what he'd stolen. He took it out and carefully unwrapped it to reveal six peg shaped objects. We both recognised them immediately, and he began to align them when I stopped him, frantically pointing out to align them meant they'd be "pulled" towards the source of mystic energy here. Sure enough, our craft started to diverge, as he argued they should be aligned, then realised what was happening and began to unalign them.

"You know we're doomed, don't you?", I stated.

He looked up puzzled. "Why?"

"Once they realize they've been robbed, they'll track you down and kill you".

Alien among us

2008-03-11T19:16:00.000Z

It looked like a scam. It smelled like a scam. But, what was it?

They put on a wonderful show. "Come and work for us", they said. "Salaries with us are generous, comparable to the market rate", they said. The building was a vast warehouse showing off all the wonderful technology they worked on.

Then came the clincher. Our host walked up the wall and stood on the ceiling peering down at us. "We are the Markum", he intoned.

The numbers of people that sat down at the invitation desk were impressive. I wondered around aimlessly for a while. Then I came back, and found the desk was deserted with two female Markum staring at me, with friendly smiles. I sifted through the paperwork on the desk, and saw "Mayor of New York" appearing as one name. Again, impressive, but a scam?

I looked up, into their deep brown eyes and indicated I wished to hear more.

Goodbye Virgin Media

2008-03-06T20:42:00.003Z

I got rid of my V+ box from Virgin Media last year. Finally got the cancellation sorted out. I got fed up with the bugs and awful quality of the V+ box. Instead, I've gone completely Freeview! The picture quality is so much better, although the content is not so varied. And it's free!!!

...finally got shot of the dreaded cold this year. Despite having flu jabs etc.

Audio Units

2007-12-27T11:25:00.000Z

Trying to get around the Apple developer documents is a nightmare. There aren't hyperlinks to keywords so you have to switch back to the index; subjects aren't discussed in great detail - how to use AudioUnitGetProperty etc. Even Microsoft's documentation is more complete than that! Wow! Way to go Apple!

Parallels and MSVCR80.DLL

2007-12-24T10:32:00.000Z

I'm toying around with Parallels on my Mac. I'd like to try VMWare Fusion but no key (probably on my mail elsewhere). As an experiment, I tried my Windows version of Melody Mine and found it doesn't work!

Turns out it's a MSVCR80.DLL dependancy. And a bug in my manifest file supplied with Melody Mine - it refers to V9 of the runtime (as I've got VS 2008 Express). Remove the reference, it works fine.

VSTi and AU

2007-12-24T10:27:00.001Z

Last time I tried to create a VST host, then bolt Melody Mine on the front of it... well, it didn't really work. That may have been due to using Delphi to create everything (Delphi doesn't do so well with floating point exceptions). Now that I'm using C++ with wxWidgets, maybe it's time to try again.

Meanwhile, playing around with Audio Units on my MacBook seems so much easier that VST + ASIO on Windows! I've modified my keys application to use the Apple Synthesiser, so I may try the same with Melody Mine (which uses Port MIDI - this requires an external synthesiser to make any sounds). That may mean I drop PortMIDI and use my own classes to talk directly to the MIDI API on Windows and AU on MAC.

Facelift

2007-12-11T21:12:00.000Z

A facelift for Melody Mine - replaced the song grid with a custom grid of my own. Editing with it is much easier.

Meow!

2007-12-03T06:25:00.000Z

From TheRegister:

"CodeGear - the unwanted Borland Software subsidiary its parent pimped on the market for about year but failed to find a buyer for - is trying to give JBuilder a lift in a commoditized market, but risks sapping energy that could go into less visionary but more immediately useful coding tools.®"

Read the full article here.

Exporting MIDI

2007-12-02T20:09:00.000Z

Ported the Windows only code that writes out MIDI to a cross platform version for the Mac. Seems to work on the PC.

Switched to PortMIDI

2007-12-02T08:57:00.000Z

I switched my midi output to PortMIDI - got it working on the PC and fixed an annoying bug. Took a while to get past build issues on the Mac but got that working too, though the setup is not as simple as the PC.

Melody Mine now has Lua scripting...

2007-11-19T23:43:00.000Z

Here's a short Lua script that truncates notes in a pattern in my MIDI editor, Melody Mine.

function TruncateDuration(duration)

local i, index, note, dur
local pattern = GetCurrentPattern()
local count = GetNoteCount(pattern)

for i = 0, count - 1 do
note = GetNote(pattern, i)
dur = GetNoteDuration(note)
if dur > duration then
dur = duration
end
SetNoteDuration(note, dur)
end
end

TruncateDuration(24)

Melody Mine

2007-11-03T11:30:00.001Z

It's getting there... the PC version can play music and export to MIDI files. The Mac version won't have that for a while.

Sonaptic too!

2007-10-31T19:30:00.000Z

"We are pleased to inform you that the Board of Directors for Sonaptic Ltd have agreed to the acquisition of the company by Wolfson Microelectronics plc."

http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/sonaptic.do

Melody Mine V0.53

2007-10-31T19:22:00.001Z

Melody Mine (Windows and Mac versions)

(images copyright © 2007 Pete Goodwin)

Melody Mine V0.52

2007-10-29T20:13:00.000Z

The new Melody Mine...

(all the images here are © 2007 Pete Goodwin)

Yet another version of my music sequencing tool - I'm still working on it.

I've gone back to MIDI output (file and device) as that's the easiest way to get it to work without diving into the murky world of VST hosting.

The pattern editor is like a piano roll but with only seven notes, instead of the usual twelve. Why seven and not twelve? Well, written music uses seven notes from a scale (quoted at the start), so why shouldn't a pianoroll?

I didn't know I was German?

2007-09-15T07:39:00.001Z

Your blog post published successfully!

Blog anzeigen (in einem neuen Fenster)

Need to change it?

Sensaura and GameCODA... no more

2007-09-15T07:32:00.000Z

I see both websites for Sensaura and GameCODA have finally gone.

Sigh.

The future rushes forwards...

2007-05-23T19:33:00.000Z

This week is the week I get my house decorated - just a few minor operations - repainting the front, the garage door and revarnish the front door. The porch has been repainted as well as one intrernal wall.

Things are moving forwards on renting a flat near where I'll be working; never rented a flat before. This should be interesting!

Sensaura Memorial

2007-05-03T05:04:00.000Z

Last night a group of Sensaurians got together to remember Sensaura. We started in a pub in Windsor, then some of us moved to a restaurant for a meal. It was strange seeing old faces again...

It seems we're disappearing off to different places all around the UK. I'm off up north shortly, some maybe headed down south.

In the past, when I've moved on, I've lost contact with most of the people I knew. I have two or three left who I still hear from on occaison.

Changes...

2007-05-01T15:30:00.000Z

The changes are here.

I've been made redundant.

Sensaura as a group no longer exists...

I was there for eight years, and now it's over. Some parts live on - Sonaptic is going strong. Also, while the name Sensaura is gone, there are five people left from the group of about twenty. The rest of us are going our seperate ways.

I start my new job shortly...

Employment Agencies

2007-04-19T15:22:00.000Z

I got my job at Digital through an agency; my current job through another... ten years on, there are too many agencies out there, and the quality of them seems to have fallen. You apply for a job, you get an initial contact and... that's it. Nowt. Nada. Zip. If you pester them, they don't bother to respond.

More on this later...

Delphi 2007 for Win32

2007-02-25T20:36:00.000Z

CodeGear (who? They're part of Borland) have released Delphi 2007 for Win32. They fixed a few bugs and added support for Vista - but not much else. A very expensive upgrade with little goodness in it. No thanks, after Delphi 2005/2006, they've have to pull some really big rabbits out of their hat before I burn my fingers again!

MacBook

2007-02-25T20:32:00.000Z

My laptop was getting old - a 700MHz Celeron. It wouldn't run Windows XP but did run Ubuntu. Never could get WPA wireless to work on it though.

I thought about getting an Apple MacBook, even more so since they had an Intel version out. So, I bought one before Christmas. It's like Linux but with a desktop and decent applications.

The "finder" application seems to be the worst part of it - a bit of a mess, I think. The Wireless network seems to have issues too but I think I've got that working now.

Firefox and Thunderbird all work on Windows, Linux and Apple - why use anything else?

(Today I'm using IE7 due to an issue with Firefox and Blogger)

Buying a new car

2007-02-25T20:21:00.001Z

Just before Christmas, my Peugeot 206 let me down - it started misfiring or randomly stalling. It took a few weeks and several hundred pounds to fix it - a stuck injector. I was already disappointed with this car - it went well enough but seemed to have a few electrical issues: central locking failed after two years (I had to fight to get it fixed under warranty), A/C made the engine almost stall in stop/start traffic, A/C + fan switch would stop working one day and work fine the next, and finally the alarm system kept going off, waking me once in the night.

So I traded it in, and bought a Honda Jazz, with a 1.4 CVT engine. It's my first automatic, and my first five door car. I was a little concerned that it might not perform too well - was 1.4 too underpowered? That doesn't seem to be the case - its a quiet efficient engine, and a real pleasure to drive.

The salesman did tell me a few wrong facts about the Jazz: I asked if when the immobiliser was switched if there was a red light flashing on the console - there isn't, the salesman said he thought there was. Also, on the day I picked up my car, he said it had an electric heater to help clear the windows in cold weather - this simply isn't true.

Some options on the Jazz puzzle me - why the continuous rear wash wipe unless you buy a sport model? Why not offer it as an option?

I had planned on buying a second hand car perhaps a year old or younger... the Jazz brand new was more or less the same price as a year old model, so I went for a new one.

Spread

2006-11-15T22:44:00.000Z

Since SynthMaker V1.0 has been released, I revisited the 'spread' synth I'd tried to create before. Here's the result.

The Quest

2006-08-15T21:35:00.000Z

"Ok, we're nearly there", whispered Luke.
"Are you sure?", said Simon.
"Yeah".
"I mean... is this the right place and all?"
"C'mon, we've been searching for days!"
Luke and Simon ducked into the room. Above the door the words, "The Oracle" were engraved on a brass plaque.
"WELCOME STRANGER", a deep voice intoned.
"Ooo-er!"
"WHAT IS YOUR QUEST?"
"Umm...",
"Go on, ask it!"
"Oh... OK. Hey dude have you seen my car?"
"WHAT?"
"Have you seen my car?"
Long pause...
"Luke... why did you take your shirt off?"
"I dunno... seemed like the right thing to do..."

Doing a tech demo

2006-08-15T21:31:00.000Z

I need to add the "fire" particle generator inside the fireplace to complete this one... I recently bought a copy of Dark Basic Pro along with Dark Physics. Kinda strange wandering around a room and making boxes fly around...

The artist in me...

2006-06-27T20:03:00.000Z

It's been a while. I dabbled with raytraying with POVray and had a go at creating an editor to create the scenes with it. I've used 3DS Max and Maya - too expensive and too confusing to use.

After my musical interlude, I came across Bryce again. I've seen it before, but hadn't realised it had changed hands a few times. This time I bought a copy, taking me back to photo-realistic imagery again. Then I descovered Hexagon, a modelling tool, followed by Carrara and Poser.

Here's a scene I created in Poser then rendered in Carrara:

I just love camera effects!

Dark Matter

2006-05-10T22:54:00.000Z

Something I'm working on in SynthMaker...

MSN should get with the program...

2006-03-22T10:19:00.000Z

Now I remember why I never use MSN.

Tons of ideas but...

2006-03-05T09:58:00.000Z

I sit at my PC and I have a lot of ideas but I go blank staring at the screen. "Writers block", programmer style?

Delphi 2006 trial version

2006-02-18T14:21:00.000Z

So Borland have released a trial version of Delphi 2006 - an Architect trial version that lasts 30 days.

Pity they didn't release a personal version that costs $99 instead.

"Alas poor Borland, I knew him well..."

2006-02-08T23:33:00.000Z

Saw this on the net.

My reaction to this?

"Do not ask for whom the bells toll, they toll for you".

Maybe it's time to hangup my Delphi T-shirts and start wearing C# ones.

Sigh.

Notes stuck on

2006-01-21T20:39:00.000Z

You hate it when it happens. Your latest sequencer starts generating stuck notes that never turn off. I had this with the MIDI streaming API but managed to figure that one out. Now I'm working with a MIDI sequencer feeding into a VST sample accurate system. ARGH! No longer are things aligned on a nice neat PPQN boundary. They're all over the shop. And my pad notes are getting stuck on.

With a good ol' trace log, I figured out the stuck note always occured at the same point - when the sample position 'wrapped' around bar - a boundary condition error meant this was never seen - switch 'x < y' to 'x <= y' and stuck notes have gone!

Still, it beats working with databases. Now I can start to compose stuff with uSeq. If only saving worked. Groan...

μSeq

2006-01-14T00:09:00.000Z

I just don't like the name The Chordinator. Too... naff!

So, how's about μSeq, as in micro-sequencer?

2006-01-11T22:42:00.000Z

More bells and whistles added to Multi Host...

Delphi who?

2006-01-09T13:40:00.000Z

It has surprised me how a number of apps I use for music are created in Delphi. ImageLine's FL Studio is one example; Rayzoon's JamStix is another.

I first saw Delphi V1 on the front of a magazine. I tried it, loved it, and have been buying it for personal use ever since.

I skipped Delphi 8 as I wasn't that struck on .NET, despite Microsoft trying to make it the future of development. I bought Delphi 2005, but was disappointed by how bad a release it was. Delphi 2006 is much better, but I can't help feeling Delphi 7 was the last best release.

C++ Builder is Borland's answer for C++ instead of Delphi's Object Pascal. It took until V5 before it became reasonable. Even now I wouldn't use it in preference to Visual Studio C++.

Borland's brief flirtation on Linux with Kylix wasn't a great success. It had potential but seemed to have too many problems. It came free with Delphi 7, but the cross platform library (CLX) has disappeared from Delphi 2006.

So I can see why people think Borland is dead. They haven't done much lately except shoot themselves in the foot. Sad really, but I'm reminded how much being technically superior is no guarantee of success.

2006-01-07T18:38:00.000Z

Sound of much sawing, hammering, cursing and bruised thumbs...

"It's alive! IT'S ALIVE"

Chordinator with MultiHost merged in.

Oh my god, oh-mi-god!

Tune Forge

2005-12-26T22:39:00.000Z

Just added a transition matrix based "tune forge" to Chordinator. First few generations produced a few interesting tunes...

Multi host

2005-12-26T22:34:00.000Z

There's MiniHost, a single VSTi host, there's VSTHost etc.

How about a MultiHost? Something that handles multiple VSTi and chaining of VST effects on that instrument...

Well, it works, but needs more... I got the MIDI input going, and the channel filtering. Now I need to make the UI work so I can try it out with Chordinator...

Then take a large spoon and stir Chordinator and MultiHost together...

(cue the electric storm, flashing lights, evil laughter, and "it is ALIVE!"... well, not yet anywhy)

Delphi 2006 is here...

2005-12-26T22:32:00.000Z

After reading the posts about it, everything seemed ok. So I ordered it on the Friday, it turned up on the Tue afterwards. Rebuilt Chordinator with it, ok no problems so far. Hmmm... then got strange crashes, odd hangs. So far it's been ASIO causing issues, not sure why.

'tis the season to be...

2005-12-18T21:26:00.000Z

Bah! Humbug! Can't stand xmas!

This year is different... something to do with whatever online community I hang out with. Three years ago I met Jonathan; this year I'm getting pressies from unexpected sources.

ImageLine have released FL Studio 6

H G Fortune sent me details of a 'Fortune Cookie' synth - since I bought a few of his VSTi creations.

Oh, and I've got a cold. sniff. me head hurts.

Editing with the Chordinator

2005-12-06T09:08:00.000Z

I tried to put one of my songs in Chordinator and immediately hit a problem - it was hard to do as I couldn't see everything at once. So, I'm going to extend the pattern editor to allow multiple tracks and bars.

Delphi 2006

2005-12-06T09:04:00.000Z

Borland has released Delphi 2006, a Delphi, C++, C# development system (I understand the C++ 'personality' is a pre-release).

I bought Delphi 2005... oh dear, I wish I hadn't. It was unstable, buggy and it's still not fixed, even after three updates. So I've help off buying Delphi 2006 for now (though it has, or will have, C++).

Delphi 7 seems to do everything I want, so I'm staying there. I'm watching in the USENET groups for reviews. I'm hoping Borland release a free version before my discount runs out, but I doubt it.

WindowBlinds

2005-12-03T10:11:00.000Z

Just trying out WindowBlinds... themes for Windows XP. Nice eye candy. A few rough edges here and there.

There's just too many of them...

2005-12-03T10:06:00.000Z

Plugins.

Those little pieces of software that you can create music with... my VstPlugins directory has at least 270 of 'em. Oh dear!

Some of the free ones made with SynthEdit are pretty good!

The Chordinator

2005-11-27T23:33:00.000Z

Still working on my music pattern editor/generator...

(Updated to latest version)

Wusikstation

2005-11-11T13:13:00.000Z

I've finally bought a copy of Wusikstation and had a lot of fun creating new presets based on Sound Fonts etc. I've got a few products like this already, but with ESC I can properly create the banks for it.

The inspiration for this comes from two sources: SynthMaker, which has taught me a lot about how virtual synths work and M42 Nebula which has an interesting set of pads based on a sound font.

I've also got LinPlug's CronoX3, another sample based synth. There doesn't seem to be a tool to help convert sound fonts for this as yet.

Melody Mine

2005-11-05T09:49:00.000Z

Here's an application I'm currently working on: Melody Mine. It's unfinished as yet. Lots of details to work through! It has a MIDI editor with a difference - it highlights the scale and chord progression in the bar. I can never remember either of those two. It uses MIDI out of a sound card, so it sounds pretty basic. However, you will be able to export to a MIDI file and load it into your favourite sequencer.

Here's the older version which is pattern based:

I moved on from it as I felt it hindered development rather than enhanced it...

The Slumbering Giant

2005-11-04T23:40:00.000Z

Here's another M42 song: The Slumbering Giant

I'm obviously having too much fun with this new synth.

Sombre Reflection

2005-11-04T13:05:00.000Z

Here's one I did with Richmond-2: sombre reflection

Richmond-2 is a "Hybrid of Physical Modelling and FM synthesis" by Karkli Software, a free plucked/struck sounding synth.

Trance Gate

2005-11-04T11:16:00.000Z

M42's pulsar makes me wonder if a "trance gate" would be a useful feature. To the left is one from LinPlug's ChronoX3. It's in the output chain, so it applies to volume, but a more general purpose one whose output is routed by a modulation matrix could be applied anywhere... filter cutoff, res, etc.

Incidentally, who do some people on KVR go to such lengths to avoid the word "trance"?

M42 Nebula - revisited

2005-11-03T19:37:00.000Z

Here it is, the updated m42wow.

Tried to create my own bass and lead... hmm... not so easy, is it? I took some presets and tweaked them a little bit. The bass has lost some of its sharpness but I like it. The lead sounds a bit sawtoothy... still, nice echo and stereo panning. I love the squelchiness of the filter resonance.

M42 Nebula

2005-11-02T20:53:00.000Z

Every now and then I stumble across a synth I really like... I did that today, with M42 Nebula.

Here's something I've created with it: m42wow!

(For those that are interested, reFX PlasticZ! on lead - with CamelPhat3 tweaks - and bass, uTonic on drums, spacey pad sound by M42 Nebula. I used ScaleGrid to help me figure out the scale and mode for this song. I'm thinking of switching out PlasticZ! to M42, not because there's anything wrong with it, but because this is a M42 song after all! As they say, "watch this space"!)

Why Blogger?

2005-11-01T09:48:00.000Z

I had my own Blog setup with Pilot, so why try Blogger? Because it's Google and not Microsoft? It's free? It supports stuff better than I could ever try to do myself with Pilot? Ah yes.

Scales and Modes

2005-11-01T09:42:00.000Z

One of the biggest barriers I've found to learning music is all the scales, modes and chords. A whole ream of endless stuff you have to learn...

Or do you?

I put together this plugin to help me remember where notes go in scales and modes. If you line it up against your piano roll, you can instantly see the notes on the scale, plus the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes.

This one is for FL Studio, but it shouldn't be too hard to make a VSTi out of it.

I've since modified it to include the chord progression index, and changed the display to use the Nashville system. The refresh button is still there due to bug on loading a project.

"Walking..."

2005-10-31T13:07:00.000Z

One of my favourites: Zeta Go!

Just put together another song: walking

Interesting... sounded ok on headphones, doesn't sound quite right on speakers. Sounds a little distorted. Bit of EQ required, perhaps.

And so it begins...

2005-10-31T11:18:00.000Z

"And so it begins...", said Kosh in Babylon 5.